EDIT: Is a Bilstein coil over (to) soft?
 

Just thinking...
The bilstein coil over is said to have soft springs. A rule of thumb says "Soft springs, hard sway bars".
Are there any thoughts or reccomendations for different Sway bars in combinatin with a Bilstein coil over?

Idk where you heard that rule of thumb. Its false.

The Bilstein coilovers also have stiffer springs than a stock, base model S2000. They're close to the CR rates.

Select the swaybars that match your setup, use, and driving style. There's no absolute and correct answer.

Why do they make adjustable swaybars? To tune the balance.

PSS springs are more forward biased than even CR, which is by far the most fwd biased stock iteration. This may work well if you've switched to square wheels tire setup. But if staggered, you may want to go less front bar, or more rear.

Mix and match from other stock years is easy and cheap. Fortunately, twohoos created that incredible document of all stock spring and swaybar rates. So it'd be easy to figure out which bars are stronger or weaker than whatever your car came with.

One thing I definitely wouldn't do if square with PSS is get the otherwise popular CR front swaybar (the stiffest stock front bar). You'd be way too fwd biased. I wouldn't recommend it with staggered and PSS either, still too fwd biased.

The Suspension Calculator I created was built just for situations like this. With a given set of springs (say, PSS), how would changing swaybars affect the balance? How would the new balance compare to each stock iteration?

You can IM me for a copy of calculator, and instructions (its an Excel spreadsheet).

Lots of things go into swaybar choice and setup. I do not agree with the opinion that even the CR front bar is way too stiff for that setup with square tire/wheel setup. But it depends on what you are doing and if an AP1 or AP2. Most all serious autocrossers in STR ran HUGE FSB's. The CR was not even a consideration, and most run the big Karcepts bar, Gendrons, etc. And even more so on an AP1. But so much else goes into that consideration. For example, with 750/600 spring rates on my AP1, I found it a bit pushy at times with a Moddiction FSB. But, when I went from -2.6 to -3.5 degrees of camber up front and moved to a Karcepts front bar I got more benefit from the bar on the autox course. For track, I can run that bar a bit softer. So there is no perfect answer here.

If you plan on doing a lot of tuning and trying to get it just right (especially if autocrossing or doing a lot of track stuff) I would recommend a stock rear bar and a Karcepts front bar. That bar can be adjusted with the car sitting on the ground (even lowered believe it or not) and has a lot of adjustment range. I am still on an OEM AP1 rear bar.

But, I recommend first just driving it the way you plan to drive it with the stock bars and the PSS setup and then deciding what you need to do. You may be happy with stock bars, you may decide you want to make a change. Always let the driving tell you what you need. Even among the pointy end drivers, there are some that use setups that are quite different from others that are just as fast as them.

As allways, thank you guys. Lot of usefull information and input.

First, i only read comments about the Bilstein PSS describing it as softer and more comofortable compared to OEM suspension. I never read a different opinion. I am surprised to read the the Bilstein springs are stiffer compared to OEM..
The "Rule of thumb" "Soft springs - Stiff sway bars" applys only for road, mountain courses. The rule is from a book about car supension, this book is up to date, comprehensive and simply "the Bible" in german language. The author also has race expirience with a Honda S2000. https://www.wwmotorsport.de/das-buch/ Best thing, he runs a suspension shop and is located only a hour away from me.

Staggerd setup and adjustbale sway bars are not Street legal here, at least for the S2000. I forgott to mention that our german laws sometimes spoils the fun...
You are all correct that each driver is different and prefer a different setup. I know this very well from Motorcycles. Sometime, when i switch bikes with a buddy, i am really stunned wich suspension setup others use. Trying out different swaybars is a bit problematic here, because they sold only a handfull of S2000 here in Germany and used parts are scarse.
Thank you all!

Bilstein rates are 345/285. Stock rates can be found here https://www.s2ki.com/forums/s2000-br...prings-818884/

So yes they are stiffer than base springs, but not by much to make a difference. The Bilstein's ride comfort mainly comes from damping setting, and much softer bump stops.

@Mr.Matchbox You said "staggered setup is not street legal", but the S2000 comes staggered in stock form. Maybe you wanted to say something else? Staggered means front tires having different width from rear tires.

Sorry, i have mistaken staggerd with square. My bad. Thanks for the hint. Square setup is not street legal here.

The Bilstein B16 has a adjustemnt range for damping of 10 Clicks. I cant imagine that this is still to "Comfortbale" in the hardest setting?
My high quality aftermarket motorcycle shocks allways had a range of about 30 Klickes, from "Much to soft" to "Unridable stiff". Somehere in between was allways the sweet spot...

So is it that you cannot change the wheel width at all? Or just the relation between front and rear has to stay the same? Aka can you go up in width on both ends as long as they stay the same relative to each other? Asking more for curiosity sake as it sucks to hear you cannot make those types of mods.

It´s a little bit complicated. Wheels need to be tested for strenght and fitment to each car for wich they can be sold , therefore they need certification Papers (TUV Approval). The test of the wheels is demanding. But, of course you can get a lot of different wheels and wider tyres, usually. Buy a set with the Approval, fit it and do a little bit of paperwork and you are good to go. This applies to most new and popular(!) cars. Buy a VW Golf GTI or BMW 3 series (The streets here are flooded with them) and you have a very wide choice of approved wheels here. Wider tyres could be fitted, but only in a limited range, depending on how they fit in the wheel arches. The Tyre size is also part ot the approval and paperwork and mandatory.

The problem with the S2000 is, that this test is costly for the wheel maufacturer. The S2000 is old and was sold in very, very low numbers here. No wheel manufacturer can hope to retun it invest when he approves a set of wheels for the S2000 today. Therefore, i am limited at the Moment to the OEM wheels or OZ ones. When the S2000 was new, a handfull of wheels where legelized by companys like BBS or ATS, but they are out of production for a long time. As these sets are rare they fetch absured prices today in Germany when you can find them used.

There is a loophole, one or two companys wich can legalize Japanese wheels from Enkei or so, but that is costly and i have to make a trip to these companys for legalization and Paperwork. As i have two sets of OEM Honda 17" wheels, wich are also very sought after here, i simply be happy with them and save my money and time.

You have to pay a price for the luxury that you can drive as fast as you want, the parts on your car should be tested for such speeds.

Use the stock rear wheels from an AP2.

Bore out the hub centers to make them hub centric to the front hubs.

You've defeated the system and its not even lunch time.